I Suppose Aizen wasn't Enough?
by redgear3000
Summary: -Sequel to 'Ulquiorra is my Maid'- Months after the whole scenario with Aizen, Keiko and Ulquiorra attempt to settle into a quiet lifestyle but it's disturbed when an unexpected adversary disrupts the peace they fought so hard to achieve?
1. Chapter 1 Disturbed Peace

His lips pressed softly like a butterfly's wingbeat up my arm. I flinched with red coating my cheeks from his touch as he progressed up all the way to my shoulder. Pausing for a moment, he lifted his lips from my arm and looked into my eyes. Those green orbs seemed to be analyzing my expression – they were so deep and brooding that goosebumps rose up on my skin. He was so beautiful – the moonlight that was pouring in through the window really complemented his milky complexion. It was almost as if there was an angel in my room, sitting on my bed with me holding my hand with his face incredibly close to mine.

"Are you sure you want me to continue?" Ulquiorra wondered, his voice low.

I nodded, "Y-yes. Of course I do."

"You're trembling." Ulquiorra observed. I hadn't noticed, but indeed I was quivering. My hand was seated in his, but I could still tell that I was shaking. I had to admit, I was nervous as hell. It had been a while since Ulquiorra had told me that he loved me, but only now have we decided to… 'do' anything. We didn't talk about it at all before this, but here we were – sitting on my bed together with little to no space in between us, the door closed behind us and the light turned off.

"It's n-nothing." I blushed, looking away from those eyes of his, "I've just never done anything like this before, OK?" It was rather embarrassing to admit that it was my first time, but men hardly gave me a second glance. Only Ulquiorra bothered to give me a chance.

"I admit, neither have I." Ulquiorra told me, which didn't really surprise me. He… it was hard to describe, but he was the obedient type – not the sort of type to philander or to have any promiscuous relationships with anyone. Even still, that was pretty attractive in its own right.

"Then it's a discovery for both of us." I whispered, pushing myself in closer toward him. I looked at his lips, tracing them with my shivering finger, "Just… I suppose you just do what feels necessary." As soon as I said that, I was suddenly pushed down onto the bed with Ulquiorra on top of me. I gaped up at him with blush burning its red tinge on my cheeks. Tenderly, he rubbed my face with the back of his hand.

"If that's the case," Ulquiorra began, "then I do not have to hold back any longer." With that, Ulquiorra brought his face down to mine, kissing me delicately on the lips. I had been longing for his lips forever – and finally they are on mine. He had been teasing me with his kisses on my hand and on my arm all this time, but now they were right where I wanted them. Holding his face in between my palms, I drew him in even closer than he was before and kissed him even harder back. Ulquiorra took one of his hands to reach into the inside of my shirt – his flesh running across mine.

We broke apart and I could clearly feel his hot breath on my cheeks as we caught our breath. His green eyes continued to analyze me, constantly checking my features as if he was trying to memorize everything about me. With his free hand, he traced my jaw so gingerly that if I didn't know any better than I would have thought there was a ghost touching me. It would appear that he was doing that to distract me because he quickly lifted my shirt up so it was just seated above my breasts, exposing my bra to him.

I turned a bright red as I felt myself twitch under his eyes, suddenly embarrassed, "Sorry, they aren't very big…," Ulquiorra quieted me down as he slipped his hand into my bra and squeezed my breast in his fingers. I moaned as Ulquiorra brought his mouth to my neck and lightly kissed it.

"They're perfect." He whispered, his sweat breath once again brushing its warm fingers across my tender, now very aware flesh. Ulquiorra brought his face down even lower until he came to my collarbone and sucked on the hollow space between the two of them. I couldn't stop a gasp from escaping my lips as I arched my back from how furiously he was sucking on that spot. I put my hands on the back of his head, lacing my fingers through his dark hair as I bit my lip to try not to moan too loudly even though I desperately wanted to. So that was what he meant by 'not holding back any longer' – he certainly wasn't relenting in the slightest.

He almost seemed to have to force himself away from that now red part of my body, but when he did, he ripped the collar of his shirt down. This revealed a hole similar to that of Grimmjow's right in the same spot he gave me a hickey. I also saw the number '4' tattooed on the left side of his chest. Despite him having a hole right there that I could clearly see through, I felt excitement shoot out to my fingertips as he placed his bare flesh back down on mine. Ulquiorra placed his tongue in the place between my ribs, tracing his tongue along the bone. I gasped, his warmth now flooding more effectively into my body. While he was doing that, his hand slipped down my body and to my jeans. I braced myself, stiffening unconsciously when his fingers breeched my panties. In the meantime, his face had made its way to my neck again. There, I could feel him take in a breath through his nose, causing my already fast paced pulse to move even faster.

"Relax." Ulquiorra commanded, not in a stern way – but kind and gentle, in fact. I listened to him, letting out a breath that I didn't realize until now that I was holding as I put my trust in him. When he noticed me physically relaxing, his hand that was halfway to my woman parts continued its course. I bit my lip, but remembered Ulquiorra's words and instead of bracing myself again, I took Ulquiorra who was kissing the underside of my chin and brought his face to mine again. I forced my lips onto his as his fingers had finally made it to my vagina. I moaned in our kiss as he forced some of his fingers into me. In and out, he pumped them into me and each time he did, the wetter I got. The sensation was almost too much, I felt as though my skin was on fire, which wasn't too far off because the smell of sweat and Ulquiorra's unidentifiable but enjoyable scent was filling my nostrils.

Once I had gotten pretty wet down there, Ulquiorra retrieved his fingers to pry at my jeans. After fumbling with them for a bit, he pull them down to reveal my rather unappealing undergarments. Blushing and lifting my knees up with embarrassment but was stopped when Ulquiorra put his hands on my knees and as I looked up at his eyes, I saw longing that I didn't realize was there before in his jade eyes. At first, he would stop and tell me whether or not I wanted to continue with what he was doing, but now – ever since he said he wasn't going to hold back – he had been giving me no chances if I wanted him to proceed or not. I was certainly fine with this development of his because it was unbelievably sexy.

"Trust me, Keiko." Ulquiorra murmured.

"I do." I replied back, letting my knees down which granted him access to my virgin nether regions. He hooked his fingers around my panties and inched them down my thighs. I watched with excitement as he discarded both my pants and my panties to the floor before grabbing my fat thighs. Ulquiorra didn't hesitate when he brought his face between my legs and began to lick the already wetted area. I gasped and moaned at the same time as I laced my fingers through his black hair. There was no amount of surprise in my body at how seemingly experienced he was at this – there was doubt in my mind that he hadn't done this before, but as an orgasm awoken my already heightened senses and dulled my thinking, I discarded that thought immediately.

Though as soon as the orgasm began to wane soon after it erupted, I felt something also course through my body. It wasn't pleasure, that much was sure – even though my body was full of ecstasy. I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was, but it was something akin to loss. Why would I feel that toward the end of an orgasm? What did it mean? Did it have to do with how I was doing this with Ulquiorra outside of marriage? I wasn't big on religion, but a part of me was thinking that maybe marriage was the best idea for the two of us – it'd make my parents happy; but who'd do the service? A medium? Unlikely. Then, if that wasn't what was bothering me, what was it? My stomach tied into a knot and I began to feel nauseous.

"Ulquoirra…," I groaned, but he didn't seem to hear me at first because I had to raise my voice a little the second time to get his attention when I continued, "Ulquiorra! Stop."

When I said the word 'stop', he immediately obeyed. With passionate, but confused eyes, he asked, "Is something amiss, Keiko?"

"No… it's just… I don't know…," I admitted running a hand through my now messy hair after getting into a sitting position. What was that? Why was it making me feel so dejected? Most likely sensing my distress as he always seemed able to do, Ulquiorra pulled himself against me, snaking a concerned arm around my bare waist.

"Did I displease you?" Ulquoirra wondered, which caused me to burn bright red.

"It's nothing you did! It's just… I felt… something; I don't know what it was, but it was strong and sudden – I don't know how to describe it." I sighed, now feeling drowsy all of a sudden. I held onto my head and, even though I didn't want to stop having these special moments with Ulquiorra, this feeling just seemed to hook into me worse than a summer cold, "I think I need some rest… I don't feel so good…,"

"…very well." Ulquiorra replied in his usual monotonous voice. Yet, in the time I had gotten to know him, I realized he had certain 'tones' to his monotone, if you can believe it. It's strange, but in this certain tone he just uttered, I could have sworn I had heard disappointment.

"Are you angry at me?" I inquired, desperate. I didn't want that to lie between us all night: Nearly having sex with him only to brutally pause right in the middle of it. Ulquiorra place his hand on my cheek, stroking it carefully.

"I could never be angry with you." Ulquiorra told me which caused me to smile but he ruined the mood when he added, "But, I must admit, there is some frustrated part of me that is wanting to finish what we started." The way he worded it was so like him: Straight to the point and devoid of subjectivity.

Embarrassed to even say it, but wanting him to feel a little bit better, I stuttered, "W-well… I guess tonight just wasn't the night, huh? Perhaps another time." It was worth the embarrassment because there was a hilarious hopeful glint in his seemingly emotionless eyes. It took every ounce of my willpower not to laugh at his eagerness.

"Indeed." Ulquiorra simply stated, as if that gleam in his eyes wasn't there at all. He removed himself from the bed and passed me my clothes, "If that is our current stand point, then we should hurry ourselves to bed." Rolling my eyes at him humorously with a grin, I put my panties back on but removed my shirt and bra in exchange for a long T-shirt that I actually had stolen off my dad to wear to bed. I wasn't exactly not ashamed of changing in front of Ulquiorra, but as I changed I put my back to him so he wouldn't see how pathetically tiny my breasts actually were without my bra.

When I had changed, I crawled into my bed where Ulquiorra followed me in. I cuddled up close to him and he smoothed the hair from my forehead to plant a soft kiss there. As he drew his arms tightly around me, I whispered a quick 'good night' to him then I closed my eyes, but when I did, thoughts of that feeling that had enveloped me during probably one of the worst times it could have popped into my head. What did it mean? Was it just my imagination? No – it couldn't have been… a bad feeling crept into my heart the more I thought about it. I didn't know what it meant or what it was for that matter…

…all I know is that it couldn't be anything good.


	2. Chapter 2 A Very Cryptic Warning

The sun's bright rays greeted me when I woke up the next morning – causing me to pull the blankets over my head with a groan. They were quickly torn off of me, forcing me to roll over on my back, stretching and yawning. Rubbing my eyes, I looked up to see that Ulquiorra had a tray full of food in his hands, the sun burning bright in my eyes behind him.

"It's time to get up now; otherwise you'll be late for work." Ulquiorra told me, setting the tray onto my lap, "I've made your breakfast, made the coffee and have prepared you lunch for your break today as well."

I laughed, taking a bite of egg on toast, "Jeez, Ulquiorra – after all you've done for me, you really don't have to continue being my man servant anymore." He seemed to ponder that for a moment until he leaned down to kiss the top of my head.

"I want to." Ulquiorra declared, "I want to do this for you." From those words, I couldn't contain my smile from slipping onto my face. He had risked his life for me – all just to help me get back home from the one who created him and yet he still opted to serving me like this? No matter how nice it was, I couldn't help but feel guilty for doing this to him. Still, I have him a choice and that what was what he chose to do so I couldn't fault myself for his ill-decision making skills.

After I had finished my breakfast, I hastily chose my apparel for today and came out to see Grimmjow sitting on the couch as usual with a bag of chips under the crook of his arm. When he saw me come in, he gave me a half wave of acknowledgement. After we had detained Aizen five months ago, he always crashed here at the apartment every so often. During that time, we had formed one of those awkward 'friend-of-a-fried' relationships – even though Ulquiorra and Grimmjow weren't exactly 'friends'. I respected his space since he didn't respect mine so I think that's where we got along; that, and due to Grimmjow's newfound interest in TV shows, which I admit I can be quite fond of from time to time as well.

"Hey, just in time – I'm lookin' for a new show to watch, what do you think I'd like?" Grimmjow asked, tossing the remote right at me.

"Definitely Sons of Anarchy." I replied without a second thought, firing up Netflix for him and started up the show. From the sound of the title, Grimmjow showed obvious interest as I started up the first episode. As I began to watch it with him, I suddenly had the urge to check the clock. When I did, my stomach sank: 9:23am?! I started in less than an hour – why didn't Ulquiorra wake me up sooner?! As I ran around in a panic, Ulquiorra handed me my lunch as well as my coffee in a travel mug and helped me out the door and out into the hallway, calm as anything. I bet he was anticipating my reaction and prepared thusly for it. Typical Ulquiorra.

While we were out in the hallway, just the two of us, and as I lowered down the panic level, we stood in front of each other. Now that I had calmed down and now that it was only Ulquiorra in the quiet hallway, I suddenly became aware of how he was staring at me: With that exact same passionate look as he gave me when I told him to do what he felt was necessary. I blushed, memories of yesterday night flooding into my head and the recollection of how he made me feel came back to life as if we were re-enacting it right then and there.

As if reading my thoughts, Ulquiorra took a step closer to me and put his warm hands on either one of my arms – his eyes never leaving mine. I couldn't stop myself, I forced my lips onto his without even thinking about it. I just had to taste those lips again before I departed with him until after my shift was over. I put my hands on his cheeks, my thumbs tracing those green tear-like marks that were coming down from his beautiful eyes. He threw his arms around my middle, drawing me so close to him that we were stomach to stomach. My heart raced, wanting this moment to last forever.

Yet, as soon as that feeling came, we both knew we had to break apart some time. When we did, I placed my forehead against his and sighed with happiness, "Have a good day, Ulquiorra."

"All the same to you as well, Keiko." Ulquiorra told me back which caused my heart to swell with gladness.

That is, until I heard Grimmjow shout from inside my apartment room, "God, just go already! I can hear you guys over the show, you disgusting lovebirds!" This caused us to take a step back from one another. I noticed Ulquiorra turn to the apartment door with a glare and suddenly I feared for Grimmjow.

"He's right. I'll see you around." I finished quickly before rushing down the stairs to get to my car. It was sad how pathetic I was at showing my affections for Ulquiorra – I know that in my heart I just wanted to kiss Ulquiorra and make love to him until I passed out, but I would always chicken out at opportunities to show him properly how much he actually meant to me.

Ah, if only he knew.

* * *

Once again, it was another boring shift. It was three hours into my shift and I was bored out of my skull. When that happens, I tend to order the books in alphabetical order until a customer arrived. And that was what I was doing: Standing in the romance section taking all the books out and putting them in correct order with the sides facing outwards.

I picked up a book where on the front cover was a man and a woman standing starry-eyed at each other, holding hands. Before I met Ulquiorra, I would have scoffed at it and probably, if I owned the book, would draw mustaches on the two of them. When I lived alone, I envied people who had a special someone or at least friends around their own age. They made me feel so… depressed, watching them. It was as if, to me, everyone had somebody but me. Yet, when Ulquiorra came into the picture of my life all of that changed: My circumstances and my mentality, both. All of a sudden, I didn't feel singled out anymore. I just had to wait for him – 'the one' for me was coming; he just had to wait for the opportune moment to come literally bursting through my window.

I sighed happily as I put the book on the shelf.

"You seem really happy, Keiko-chan. I never heard you sound so content at work before!" My boss's, Bunkichi's, voice sounded from around the corner of the bookshelf. I saw the walking stick before I saw him. I looked up to see the blind old man wearing a thing smile across his face. His assistant, Ayumu Wakahisa, also appeared behind him. Ayumu was a tall man with short black hair and not-so-friendly brown eyes. He always wore a navy blue business suit and a formal black tie. Rarely did he talk, only when he had to direct Bunkichi places or had to pass you something and explained what it was. I bet that if you forced Ayumu and Ulquiorra into having a conversation together, they would be completely silent, waiting for the other to begin. Sometimes I enjoyed teasing him, but other days I liked to keep my distance. Where one day he'd take a joke lightly other days I think that if he had the right materials in hand, he'd maim you without question. He was slightly worse than a PMSing female.

"Oh… I, uh…," I stammered suddenly running out of words to say. Was it OK to tell him about Ulquiorra? Or should I make up something on the spot?

Bunkichi chortled, "Don't fret, my dear; you're not in trouble for being happy at work – it's just an observation from an old blind man. You must have found yourself a man, eh?" I stiffened – how did he know that?! Sometimes I was surprised at how much Bunkichi could pick up on when we couldn't see. I suppose if he had been living with blindness for a while, he'd have to adjust by focusing on his other senses – but still!

"H-how did you—?" Before I could finish, Bunkichi was already explaining my not-quite yet voiced question.

"It's obvious from the way you talk and the sudden optimistic vibe you've been displaying." The old man smiled heartily, "And if I had to venture a guess, you're in the romance section, aren't you?"

"…yes." I admitted, my head hanging. I expected the old man to start laughing, but instead surprised to hear nothing. When I looked up, I noticed that Ayumu was whispering to Bunkichi, both of their faces serious. I didn't catch what they were talking about, but I heard Bunkichi say 'all right' before turning back to me.

"Keiko-chan." The old man started very solemnly, causing me to listen intently, "I have received word some time ago, but I couldn't address it without further details so I will tell you this now: I have received word that you're hanging around the wrong type of crowd."

My eyebrows furrowed, "What do you mean?"

"Arrancars." Bunkichi replied which surprised me. How did Bunkichi know about that? Why? Could he see spirits like I can? But wait, he's blind… Did he have some sort of weird power like I did? I stopped all these flooding questions and lessened them to only one.

"…how do you know that?" I asked warily.

"Stay away from them." Bunkichi ignored me, "Or you're going to make yourself an enemy of them. They will come for you."

My heart pounded, "An enemy? Who's coming for me?"

"If you do not heed our words, you will soon find out." Ayumu spoke up for the first time, silencing me. Before I could ask any more questions, a woman came up and asked for some assistance. I glanced at my boss and his assistant before going off with the woman to help her find the book she was looking for with questions buzzing through my head. A part of me wanted to stay and demand answers from them, but how could I? Bunkichi was my boss and he could fire me if I decided to question him (because, despite his friendly exterior he can actually prove to be quite formidable) and Ayumu wasn't exactly approachable about any subject – even just when it involved work or getting into contact with Bunkichi. But still… who was it they were referring to? Did Arrancars such as Ulquoirra and Grimmjow have another enemy I should worry about? From the sound of Bunkichi's words of warning, there was at least more than one – which added to my fright.

Deciding to distract myself, I turned to the woman, "So you're looking for something on cooking?" The woman frowned at me.

"No, I said I wanted a book on crafts." She corrected me and I took it with a nod – right, she did say that… but I was so distracted by what Bunkichi and Ayumu said that it didn't quite register. Come on Keiko, get your head in the game – maybe it's nothing: Maybe I was just hearing them wrong. Maybe instead of 'Arrancars' he said 'Aransas' or something along those lines. Maybe it was a local gang or something and he thought I was getting mixed up in that crowd and the 'they' he was referring to was just the police. Whatever it was that happened, I should try not to let it bother me.

"Right, sorry. The books on crafts are just down here." I told her taking her to the next few bookshelves over. I scanned the books for a minute until I found one that particularly sounded promising, "Here's one that looks like it'd be reliable. It's—!"

Just as I was about to tell her about the book and its properties, I felt something eerily familiar. It was strong and oppressing – and, scariest of all, sudden. It threatened to push me to the floor, but I fought against it as much as I could. A cold bead of sweat ran down my temple as I recognized this feeling: It was a spiritual pressure. And just from the feeling of it, it was a powerful one. But, it must not have been too close to me because it was as if a strong wind was blowing right at me. The woman tried to gain my attention, but I was too focused on the spiritual pressure to hear her words.

What did this mean? Who was it that was emitting this pressure? Suddenly, I felt another semblance of a spiritual pressure – albeit a little less powerful than the one before it. My heart sank into my stomach as I thought of a terrifying possibility:

Aizen had come back.

"Excuse me. Are you all right?" The woman asked me. Just like that the two spiritual pressures were gone again and the world seemed to come back. I stared at the now impatient-looking woman and realized that I was just standing there with the book I was about to hand her in my hands. I tried not to panic, even as memories of last night when I experienced that odd feeling came into my head for some reason.

"Y-yes. I apologize." I coughed into my fist to regain myself, "As I was saying, the author of this book is quite well-known. She wrote many reliable books on a number of topics so you wouldn't go wrong with this book."

She took it from my hands and quickly flipped through it, "I suppose this was what I was looking for. Thank you." Turning on her heel, obviously displeased with my performance, she walked away. When she did I reflected on the possibility of Aizen returning. How would he have gotten back his powers? I thought I was keeping his powers in check daily. With a shock, I realized I didn't concentrate on his powers this morning like I normally did. Or the day before that – or even the day before that. With my heart pounding, I gathered that it was entirely possible that I unconsciously gave Aizen his powers back slowly by forgetting about doing those simple concentration exercises. Not just me, but Ulquoirra had also forgotten to remind me – how come we were so distracted?

Could it be from just those mistakes we made that everything we've worked so hard to gain: Our lifestyles, our relationships, our familial closeness with my parents – everything; everything could be destroyed. Could it be that was who Bunkichi and Ayumu were referring to, assuming they knew everything about what had happened to me? Was Aizen the source of their warning or was it something else equally as terrible?


	3. Chapter 3 Night has no Friend

There was a part of me that wanted to run into the apartment and shout everything that had happened today to Ulquiorra: About how Bunkichi and Ayumu secretly knew about Arrancars and about the two spiritual pressures that I felt soon after my boss and his assistant left. Then again, another part of me was saying that I didn't even have actual proof that what I felt was a spiritual pressure. And what if Bunkichi was referring to a made up band of thugs that just so happened to share the name with Ulquiorra and Grimmjow? The irony would be hilarious and it would only stir up this peaceful lifestyle that we had gained after Aizen had his powers taken away from him.

Standing in front of my apartment door now with my hand on the handle, I made my decision. _I can't worry Ulquiorra – not when we were dealing with a crisis just five months ago! Come what may, I'm not starting anything if I can avoid it._

With that, I wandered into my apartment to see it in perfect condition, as usual. Ulquiorra was good at keeping the place clean even though I gave him the option of doing what he liked whenever I'm away at work. Still when he insists in that voice that offers no room for arguments, I can't resist him and end up allowing him to do as he pleases.

As soon as I took my shoes off I tried to forget about Bunkichi and the spiritual pressures when I said, "I'm back. How was everything on this end?"

From within the kitchen, I heard, "Quiet, as per usual." I stepped into the kitchen to see Ulquiorra working on supper which smelled so delicious that my mouth was watering. Ever since that horrible disaster that was breakfast on his first day, Ulquiorra progressively got a lot better as each day went by. His first dish was edible and from there, he soared in terms of cooking. When I get home from work, I always anticipate the supper he makes, no matter what it may be – even if it was something I wouldn't normally eat. As I stared at the cooking food, it came into my mind that this was exactly what I didn't want to ruin: This normal atmosphere. When Aizen mucked everything up, that normal atmosphere was broken and a string of unfortunate events were always bound to happen to us and our lifestyle. If I could manage to maintain it, believe me, I would do just about anything.

"You seem uncharacteristically sullen, Keiko. Did something happen at work?" Ulquiorra piped up. I should have known that he would have picked up on that, but the suddenness of it caused me to become flustered.

"S-sullen? Me? No, I'm just very… _reflective_ today." I laughed awkwardly, "It was such a boring day at work that I had enough time to just think about things. I guess I brought that here, didn't I?" Even though I desperately tried to brush my day off as nothing, Ulquiorra turned to me with a hint of skepticism. Damn, my acting skills sucked.

"Is that so?" Ulquiorra replied, "Then why, if your day was so tedious, are you becoming suddenly disturbed from my question?" He came over to me after stopping whatever it was he was doing to put his hands on either one of my arms, just like this morning. My heart pounded in my chest as he brought his face closer to mine. At first, I thought he was going to kiss me, but he tricked me because all he did was guilt trip me by saying, "Do you not trust me enough to tell me if there is something bothering you?"

"Of course I do!" I accidentally yelped from nearly being pinned by him in such a condensed location. How dare he use his tempting good looks and his knowledge of my feelings for him against me! That was just unsolicited of him – he had his secrets, I'm sure, so why must he try to pry them from me if I didn't do that to him? Perhaps this was his true nature coming out: That he didn't want to be left out of any secrets I might have and to know everything about me. Still, this was a little invasive, even if we almost shared something special the night before.

"Then why do you refuse to tell me?" Ulquiorra wondered.

"Because it's nothing important." I replied, but even as I said it, I couldn't even believe my own words. I looked up into his eyes and could see something swimming in those orbs of his. Immediately, I felt bad for lying, especially when I was being completely obvious about it, so I decided to tell him what happened today in a roundabout way, "Hey… Ulquiorra? Is there anyone… who might… is there anyone that would consider you an enemy?"

Obvious confusion filled his eyes, "Why would you ask that?"

"Just… because I want to know. I don't want any more surprises like Aizen again." I countered, but he gave me a blank stare before answering as if trying to decipher why I would ask a question like that.

Still, he gave me the dignity of an answer, "I do have an enemy. But they shouldn't bother us."

"Who? Who is it?" I wondered, hoping to put an end to the seemingly endless set of questions that Bunkichi had sparked.

"They're known as Shinigami." Ulquiorra responded, but not without hesitance. I made a mental note of his use of the word 'they're' as he continued, "They are spirits tasked with the job of eradicating my kind; and they wear black kimonos and bear swords called zanpakuto."

I furrowed my brows, "If they are supposed to kill people like you, then why haven't we seen one yet?"

"I fear I've said too much." Ulquiorra sighed, letting his hands that were on my arms slide down to my hands. He grasped them tightly, "What has made you ask such a question? Something must have happened and it'd please me greatly if you would just tell me, Keiko."

"If I do, will you promise not to freak out?" I murmured sheepishly.

"Have you ever known me to be the one to 'freak out'?" Ulquiorra inquired which caused me to cough out a laugh just by the way he said freak out.

"W-well… no…," I admitted then debated. Ulquiorra wasn't flamboyant in terms of reactions, but he was powerful in his actions as he displayed when he fought his Lord and Creator for me. What would he do if I told him about what Bunkichi said? Would he distance himself from me because he will agree with Bunkichi's words and think that wasn't right for us to be together? Would he be extremely overprotective of me and not allow me to go back to the bookstore again because he might perceive Bunkichi as a threat? And would those actions double in intensity if I also told him about the spiritual pressures and add the possibility of Aizen coming back into the picture? No, I couldn't do that to him – or us for that matter. I had to limit what I tell him.

"OK, I'll tell you." I decided, gaining his attention immediately. Taking a deep breath, I continued, "Today at the bookstore I… I felt something. I didn't know what it was at first, but the longer I felt it, the more assure I got: It was a spiritual pressure – two, in fact."

A line formed between his eyebrows, "Two spiritual pressures?"

"Yeah. I don't know who or what they belonged to, so it rattled me a little bit, you know?" I stared at our feet, "When I realized what it was, at first… I thought it was Aizen who managed to come back and was plotting what he was going to do to kill us. But then I remembered that was impossible since I still had his powers contained, which was what scared me – the unknown."

Ulquiorra thought about that for a moment, "And that's what caused you to ask me if I had any enemies? Because you wanted to know who might be the one wandering around the bookstore?"

"Exactly – and to get the terrifying idea of Aizen coming back out of my head." I nodded.

"I see." Ulquiorra responded and took my hands up to his lips to kiss them, "But, I assure you: I will not allow anyone to harm you, no matter who they are. Let that day those few months ago serve as my proof and the sign of my promise to keep you safe." I laughed timidly, blushing a bright red. Ulquiorra's old fashioned chivalry had a way of making me spontaneously bashful.

"Oh, stop it." I giggled, taking one hand out of his to put it on my heated cheeks, "You're making me blush!" As soon as I said that, Ulquiorra leaned his face close to mine, his eyes focusing on my lips. I tipped my chin down out of embarrassment, but Ulquiorra took my chin with his now free hand to pull my face back to him.

"If it causes you to smile." Ulquiorra began, "Then I will never stop." With that, Ulquiorra placed his lips on mine. I quickly got into it and forced my own lips to kiss him right back. Right away, my worries seemed to ease out of my mind one by one the longer Ulquiorra's pleasant lips were on mine. Ulquiorra kissed me so forcefully that I nearly fell onto the floor, if there wasn't a counter behind me. With my back now positioned against the counter, I took Ulquiorra's face between my palms and wished all our problems away: Aizen, Bunkichi's warning and the possibility of the 'Shinigami' interfering with our peaceful life. Why couldn't we just live in tranquility? We weren't bothering anyone or anything, so why did we have to have others try to upset our current lifestyle?

As we got heated up by our kiss, so did the pot that was on the stove – as it began to bubble and the cover started to quiver. Forced to break apart, Ulquiorra went to lower the heat on the stove, calming the raging pot. I laughed as he stirred what was in the pot, "So, is supper done?"

* * *

"Keiko… Keiko…," A voice silently murmured into my ear, stirring me. Blinking my heavy eyes open, I looked over at Ulquiorra who was hovering over me in the dim lighting of the room. Groaning, I rubbed my eyes, asking, "What's going on? Why did you wake me up?"

"There's no time to explain. Hurry and get yourself changed." Ulquiorra urged me, stepping away from my bed to allow me to get up. This I forced myself to do groggily then I kicked my feet out of the bed. That's when I caught a glance at the time.

"What the hell! It's two in the freaking morning!" I glared over at Ulquiorra, "You'd better have a good explanation for this because I have to work tomorrow and if I—!" Before I could continue ranting, Ulquiorra rushed over and clapped his hand over my mouth. Outraged that he would just do something like that after rudely waking me up at this hour, I tried to pry his fingers from my face, but to no avail.

"Quiet. They're going to—," Ulquiorra began, but something stopped him. Turning around slowly, he glanced out the window, "We're too late." I ceased trying to remove his fingers from my mouth when I heard those words. Looking passed Ulquiorra to also peer out the window to get a glimpse of what he was looking at, I regretted it the moment I did it.

Outside, perched on the rooftops across from the apartment, was a man. I couldn't catch his features exactly, but I could make out his attire: A black attire, almost exactly what a samurai would wear. As a testament to his samurai look, was a sword tied to his hip. The light of the moon offered little to no help to get any semblance of any other identifiable traits, but what I could _see_ , was enough.

Ulquiorra put a name to the person standing outside, "Shinigami."


	4. Chapter 4 Escape!

Before either of us could react, the Shinigami on the roof disappeared and instantaneously appeared bursting through the window. Ulquiorra dropped his hand from my mouth which allowed me to release a scream that had been building up inside of me. At the same time, Ulquiorra and the Shinigami unsheathed their swords, sparks flying between the connected blades. As that was going on, I heard hurried footsteps coming from outside the apartment. My heart raced; there must have been at least a half a dozen of them.

"Ulquiorra!" I gasped, alerting him to the others who were coming. I noticed he turned his head slightly and then he kicked the Shinigami in front of him in the stomach, knocking him to the floor. After he dealt with him, Ulquiorra turned around quickly, grabbing my wrist and tugged me close to him.

"We have to get out of here. Now." Ulquiorra told me.

"But how? They're coming from the main entrance – we can't get out!" I protested, but Ulquiorra put an end to my words when he picked me up by lifting me up by holding onto the back of my knees. I blushed as he jerked around and already had one foot on the window sill. My eyes widened, "You're not—,"

"It's the only way to get out of here unscathed." Was all Ulquiorra said before he leapt out of the window. I screamed again, clutching tightly onto Ulquiorra's shirt as the wind rushed through my hair and the air screeched in my ears. We weren't in the air for long because my shouting was cut short when Ulquiorra landed firmly on a nearby rooftop. That allowed me to catch my breath for a few seconds, but as soon as I did we were off again. This time, I didn't scream as the initial fear of heights was gone and instead looked up at Ulquiorra to gauge his expression: His face showed contemplation – judging from his pursed lips and his slightly-more-than-usual furrowed brows. I hated that look on his face, it made him seem angry, and, in turn, angry at me. I know that it was a selfish thought, but I felt as though he was considering my questions about who might be an enemy of his an ill premonition of some sort.

In the corner of my eye, I saw something flash. Turning my head quickly in that direction, I noticed that some Shinigami were running after us on the rooftop adjacent to us. I heard more footsteps on the other side and when I whipped my head in the opposite direction, there were more Shinigami. Fear ate at me – what did they want? Ulquoirra dead? Why? What evil has he done? All he did was live with me, help me take away Aizen's powers and tempt me into falling in love with him. How is that something to deserve death?

The Shinigami on either side of us began to close in on us, most likely attempting to block off our escape. Ulquiorra must have known that they were approaching because in an instant we were in the air again, high above the Shinigami that were hoping to close us off. Though we weren't alone for long because in a few seconds even more Shinigami arrived in the air with us, their blades drawn. As they lifted their swords to bring down upon us, I closed my eyes in anticipation. Yet, instead of pain, I heard a clank of metal on metal. Snapping my eyes back open, I realized that Ulquiorra had let go of his hold on my legs and had drawn his sword before it could contact with either of us but kept a firm hold on my shoulder to keep me close to him. The Shinigami now at bay, Ulquiorra pointed his finger and fired a green blast he had revealed to me as a Cero at the Shinigami. One received major damage to his sternum while another had his arm blasted off. The others jumped in to attack Ulquiorra, but before he could be harmed, Ulquiorra jumped a ways away from the group of Shinigami.

Landing on another nearby rooftop, Ulquoirra released me, ordering me, "Stay here. It's me they want to kill – I can't have you hurt in the crossfire." He was about to return to the chaotic fray that was quickly gaining on him when I grabbed his arm.

"Stay safe. I don't want to see you get hurt in front of me. Not again." I murmured, voice hoarse from emotions that were beginning to overpower me. Ulquoirra put his hand over mine.

"I promise." He whispered back, pushing my hand off of his before jumping back into the fight. I agonized, even after his reassurance – was this going to be like the fight with Aizen all over again? Except with five million armed Shinigami, rendering any help I could offer with my powers useless? Why couldn't I be more useful to him? Why did I always hang in the back and weigh him down? Why is it that the only thing I can do is pray that he'll be all right instead of trying to make it happen?

As I stood around doing nothing but brooding over my uselessness, I saddened sensed something appear behind me. My heart jumped in my chest as I whipped around, noticing a Shinigami with his sword high above his head, his eyes wild. I fell onto my backside, my eyes wide with fright and my body trembling as the Shinigami glared down at me. Why was he trying to kill me? What did I do? Was it because I allied myself with Ulquiorra? My mind flashed in remembrance at Bunkichi's words: 'You're only making yourself an enemy.' Did the Shinigami consider me an enemy too now?

Tears filled my eyes at this realization, "Don't… please…," Upon looking at my probably pathetic-looking form, I saw that the Shinigami's eyes seemed to soften.

"Why…," He murmured, dropping his sword, "Why is it we're sent to kill an innocent human girl?!" His choice of words confused me.

"You were… sent to kill me?" I wondered, just as another Shinigami appeared behind the one who was struggling to find it in himself to kill me. He looked over at me and then whispered something to his brother-in-arms. The torn Shinigami nodded and they both turned to me, a renewed resolve coming into their eyes.

"I don't want to have to do this to you…," He told me, drawing nearer to me, "But my orders are absolute. Forgive me!" When I could hear his sword cutting through the cold night air, I knew that he was serious – they all were. Instinct filled my body and I threw myself out of the way of his attack, rolling across the roof shingles. It was painful, but I bore with it to escape an untimely death. I may be weak and incapable of fighting, but I wasn't about to allow myself to get killed.

Behind me, I heard the two Shinigami shouting and, even if I could stop, I wouldn't. Finally, I came to the edge of the rooftop, where I held onto the eaves-trough as tight as I could with my feet dangling above the grassy yard below. My muscles strained to hold myself up; but I forced myself to move over to the left to make it safely onto a slightly elevated porch instead of killing my feet on the further away grass. I could hear the Shinigami coming non-hurriedly after me, which forced me to move faster. Though, I was too slow: In no time at all, they caught up to me. They took their swords and were prepared to slice my arms off or something.

I wouldn't let them. Before they could harm me, I released my grip on the eaves-trough and fell just barely out of the way of their swords. Though, now out of that danger, I realized the other sort of potential harm I was in: My back was facing the ground and I wasn't prepared in the least to land on my feet. When I grasped that, I barely got any time to scream or find something else to hang onto.

Bracing myself for pain, I was shocked when I instead felt hands grab me. For a minute, I was expecting to see green eyes staring back at me, but rather I noticed that it was green eyes that were looking back.

"You were havin' trouble with these wimps?" Grimmjow asked, sounding disappointed.

"I'm unarmed!" I shot back, "Not to mention still in my pyjamas!" With a sigh, Grimmjow dropped my flat on my butt, which would have been worse if he hadn't caught me so I had to thank him – but it didn't change the fact that it was still rude.

"If that's the case, you should have called for me. You know how boring I find it here in the World of the Living." Grimmjow unsheathed his sword, a huge grin breaking out on his face, "Let me handle these Shinigami bastards!" Just like that, Grimmjow was off, clashing swords with the Shinigami that were just after me. In an instant, they were defeated by the blue-haired Arrancar and he was gone again to deal with some more opponents.

When Grimmjow disappeared, I sensed more Shinigami coming my way to replace the ones that were fallen. Before they could get to me, I ran away as fast I could to elude them. While I did that, I armed myself with a broom in case I came in contact with another Shinigami. I felt bad for stealing from whomever this belonged to, but I didn't want to be caught off guard with nothing to defend myself again.

As soon as I began running, I had no idea of where to do. After the first Shinigami we spotted, there were millions that seemed to pop out of nowhere, Ulquiorra told me to stay on the rooftop, but how was that possible if they were attempting to kill me too? Then again, Bunkichi did tell me I was making myself an enemy – but how was I supposed to know it was the Shinigami he was talking about? He was so vague; and I didn't even know that he knew about beings like Ulquiorra or Grimmjow in the first place! Ugh, everything would be a lot easier if everyone would just tell me things instead of constantly leaving me in the dark!

I turned a corner, only to find a Shinigami standing there, a grin spread across his face. I looked around me, checking me surroundings: I knew I couldn't fight him by myself with only a broom in my hands, but if I could effectively use my environment, maybe I could stand a chance. Memories of Halibel's training flooded in my mind's eye as I noticed that there was a few garbage cans here and there, some back doors leading into the buildings on either side of us. The buildings were both made out of bricks, buy only one had a fire escape – steps ending a little above my head. The ally we were in was so narrow, that there would be little room to run around him to escape.

The Shinigami laughed, "Sorry to have to do this to you. Orders are orders."

"Save your breath." I answered, as he began walking toward me and I prepared my broom to strike, "I bet you don't mean it, do you?" The Shinigami was a few steps away when he brought his sword down in the spot I was standing. Adrenaline fueled my dodge as I jumped out of the way. Once I successfully dodged his attack, I brought the broom down as hard as I could on his wrist, in an attempt to disarm him. To my surprise, the Shinigami didn't even flinch.

"No, I don't mean it." The Shinigami told me and I didn't even have to look at him to know that he had a smirk on his face. He grabbed the broom and I watched with terror as he cracked and disassembled the broom in his fist alone, "But I thought you were going to get on your knees and beg for my forgiveness like most humans do. Instead you fought back with what little technique you have. If that's how it's going to be, at least make this interesting for me!" Panic overtook me as I brought the broken broomstick to block his oncoming attack. Of course, it just split easily in two – but I threw the broken pieces at his face, distracting him long enough to get some distance. While he licked the pieces away and swore under his breath, I collected reishi as I remembered Halibel teaching me. I admit it was harder to hoard reishi while a Shinigami was racing after me with his sword up in the air ready to kill me; but I tried my damnedest. When I felt the blast ready to go after a short bout of charging, I released it as I remembered I had done to Aizen. The Shinigami stopped and seemed to feel it come over him, rendering his powers unusable. He surprised me when his grin grew even larger on his face.

"I've heard about your ability to take an opponent's spiritual energy away…," The Shinigami began, "…but it seems pretty ineffective – I still have my spiritual energy! How pathetic! How did you weaken Aizen when you can't even take my powers away?!"

"It didn't work…?" I whispered under my breath in disbelief, almost missing the fact that the Shinigami had a fix on me. Though, I couldn't get out of the way in time. The Shinigami managed to cut deep into my arm and the very strike forced me to the ground. Clutching onto my bright red oozing wound, the Shinigami raised his now crimson sword up in the air again.

"Too bad for you, kid. Seems like this is the end of the road for–!" The Shinigami started until a black smudge knocked him to the ground, "What the hell!? Who dares interferes!?" In a flash, the 'intruder' identified themselves: It was Ulquiorra! Relief flooded my body as I gazed at his familiar back and got to my feet.

"Are you uninjured, Keiko?" Ulquiorra asked, but he kept his eyes on the Shinigami.

"I'm fine." I lied, trying to hide the wound on my arm. Ulquiorra nodded and raced in to attack the Shinigami. Just as he did that, I felt a presence behind me and I turned myself around in fear that it might have been another Shinigami, but when I recognized that it was Grimmjow. I breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Something's fishy." He began as soon as he stopped right at my side, not even bothering to say 'hi' or anything first.

I was confused, "What do you mean?"

"This whole thing: The Shinigami showin' there damned faces around here." Grimmjow elaborated, "They usually don't come into the World of the Living in large numbers like this. And when I was fightin' some, they didn't seem like they wanted t' fight me."

"Maybe they were just scared of you." I tried to laugh.

"Maybe…," Grimmjow agreed, still uncharacteristically reflective, "But it seemed to me their purpose wasn't to kill off Ulquiorra and me. It almost seems like… like they have another target." Once I heard Grimmjow say that, I looked at the ground, thinking that – from Bunkichi's warning and what the two Shinigami said to me – that the Shinigami being here and, in turn, putting both Grimmjow and Ulquiorra because of their heritage… was all my fault.


End file.
